About 20 people were laid-off from Firaxis, the creators of Civilization V, parent company 2K confirmed to Kotaku today.

Tipsters told us that Firaxis laid off 20 to 30 people yesterday including folks from the quality assurance team, the user interface art team, animators, programmers and designers.

Markus Wilding, global public relations director for 2K, tells Kotaku is was about 20 people.

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"I can confirm that Firaxis has realigned its development resources in order to streamline its development process, reduce costs and maximize the overall performance the studio," Wilding told Kotaku. "This will result in the elimination of approximately 20 positions. These reductions will not impact Firaxis' ability to create and deliver AAA titles, including its forthcoming Sid Meier's Civilization V and Sid Meier's Civilization Network for Facebook."

We've also heard that Jesse Smith, a producer on both Civilization IV and a yet-to-be-named secret project, was let go last month.

The layoffs come at a time when Firaxis prepares to release what is starting to look like one of the best editions of its long-loved Civilization series.

Turn-based strategy game Civilization V is due out this September for the PC.